Oklahoma State football hoping for recruiting boost in lone Texas road trip vs. Houston

STILLWATER — Eleven weeks into the season, Oklahoma State is making its first trip south of the Red River.

It's a common theme for the future, the result of the expanded Big 12, for the Cowboys to make just one appearance during the regular season in a state they recruit heavily.

So, that makes Saturday’s game at Houston all that more important.

“It’s marketing, right?” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “I didn’t take marketing, don’t know anything about it but when people see your logo in places, that’s beneficial. It can help.”

As No. 24-ranked OSU prepares to face the Cougars at 3 p.m. Saturday for the first time in conference play, it’s a chance to re-establish some footing in a recruiting hot bed once heavily utilized by the Cowboys.

More: What's the lesson for Oklahoma State football after UCF loss? 'Keep going week by week'

In Gundy’s weekly news conference Monday, he spoke of recruits wanting tickets to see the Cowboys play in Orlando last weekend, a game they lost 45-3 to UCF. OSU was not allowed to give out tickets to recruits for road games.

But the point stood.

Recruits wanted to see the Cowboys play.

It’s no different in Houston, an area the Cowboys once recruited heavily until Texas A&M left the conference for the SEC. Houston is now primarily an SEC hotbed, but now there is a Big 12 program.

Houston — and others in the conference — can benefit from the return of the conference to a metropolitan area of around 7 million people.

“They’re in a lucrative area,” Gundy said. “I would think that within a four-hour drive of that school, they have 200 offers. That’s a guess. I think they have a lucrative future from the recruiting standpoint.

“And I think they have NIL advantages because when you’re in a major metropolitan area — like TCU, Houston and SMU — and you have a number of high school prospects that leave — say they go to Notre Dame or Michigan or somewhere — and if they want to portal out and come out, the studies we take now are showing there’s a high percentage of kids that portal go closer to home.”

Here is a look at other topics discussed by Gundy:

More: Oklahoma State football picks up commitment from QB Maealiuaki Smith in 2024 class

Alan Bowman played ‘fine’ at UCF despite picks

Veteran quarterback Alan Bowman had statistically his worst game as a Cowboy with three interceptions at UCF.

But the numbers don’t tell the entire story.

“He was fine,” Gundy said. “He didn’t play his best game. Again, the conditions weren’t real favorable for it, especially when you’re behind. They know you’re in the throwing mode, it works against you, he had some doinks off the helmets and hands and things like that.

“But it’s not like he played bad. He played fine. I didn’t look at his actual grade but I’m going to say his decisions weren’t bad at all, which has been about what he’s been throughout the year.”

Gundy said only one interception could actually be graded, likely a missed throw for the third pick.

The others went off the hands of receivers.

“Sometimes it happens,” Gundy said. “They’ve made a bunch of really, really, really good catches for him the last three games, right? They’ve helped him some. Sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

More: Can Oklahoma State football still make Big 12 championship game? Cowboys remain in play

Pass rush average at UCF

While the Knights continuously hit the Cowboys with big plays Saturday, the secondary appeared to take the brunt of the blame.

Gundy said the results weren’t about busted coverage. The Cowboys just got beat on 50-50 plays.

But could the pass rush help more?

“Our pass rush in that game was very average,” Gundy said. “They won most all of the 50-50 plays, and it’s not just pass. Do we need to refinagle what we're doing? Not really. We just need to keep working on the same stuff that we’re doing.

“We do have some young guys but they played pretty good in the last month. I mean ,not too bad. So, they’ll learn. And our pass rush was average in that game.”

OSU did have two sacks, one apiece by Kendal Daniels and Collin Oliver.

Oklahoma State men's basketball: Javon Small, Bryce Thompson shine in win vs. Sam Houston

Extra points

● Gundy walked into the Boone Pickens Stadium press box with two furry friends around him, his dogs Kenzie and Ginger. “Figured I might need guard dogs after that coaching, so I brought two,” he joked.

● Gundy said he was amazed that Texas A&M was able to afford the $76.8 million buyout to fire coach Jimbo Fisher over the weekend. “I would think that means they have a lot of money.”

● Gundy also said former OSU offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich will rebound after he was fired as OC at Penn State on Sunday. “I guess they wanted him to score more points against Michigan.”

● Gundy believes the Cowboys won’t have the same collapse to end the season like last year. Injuries were a huge factor a year ago. And Gundy said he learned from that period, particularly when it came to dealing with an injury like the shoulder that hampered quarterback Spencer Sanders.

“We were in a difficult situation last year because when Spencer was playing, that gave us a chance to be at our best, but he was hurt all year, so he could never practice,” Gundy said. “So, you play him, he doesn’t practice and if he doesn’t play good how much is it, ‘I haven’t practiced?’ I’m not saying him but me watching it. It’s hard to be a good player at this level if you don’t practice.

"Hart Lee Dykes is the only person I've ever seen that could do that. He could play as good as anybody in the country. He didn’t need to practice. Most people have to practice, so that was difficult for us. If I had to do it all over again, then you don’t try it. You just gotta play who’s practicing, maybe. You don’t know if that’s right either.”

● OSU’s kickoff and broadcast information for the regular season finale against BYU will be announced over the weekend, the Big 12 announced.

Jacob Unruh covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jacob? He can be reached at junruh@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @jacobunruh. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Jacob’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.

OSU vs. Houston

KICKOFF: 3 p.m. Saturday at TDECU Stadium in Houston (ESPN2)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football recruiting boost needed from trip to Houston